Saint-Etienne - Euro 2016 travel thread

Discussion in 'UEFA and Europe' started by db1709, Dec 14, 2015.

  1. db1709

    db1709 Member

    Oct 30, 2013
    Melbourne, Australia
    Club:
    Melbourne Victory
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    Hey all,

    So I have the following tickets for St-Etienne:

    Portugal vs Iceland 14 June 9:00 pm kick off
    Czech Republic vs Croatia 17 June 6:00 pm kick off
    England vs Slovakia 20 June 9:00 pm kick off

    I applied for as many games as I could and didn't expect to land so many, and now I'm presented with some logistical issues, so I thought this would be a good thread to share ideas and gain knowledge from fans in the know.

    Ideally, I would like to be based in Lyon for these matches (I also have the Ukraine vs Northern Ireland match in Lyon on 18 June). This won't be an issue for the game on 17 June which will be finished by 8:00 pm and there are trains back to Lyon after this time.

    The other two games however, it looks very difficult to get back to Lyon, I can't find any trains back to Lyon around midnight. I can't seem to find any bus timetables too. Compounding this issue, there is hardly any accommodation available in the centre of town according to hotel search engines, the one hotel room I found on the night of the 14th was charging 1,000 euros for a night!

    Airbnb may be an option to stay here, but, is anyone here familiar with the area and knows of the transport links back to Lyon? What was it like in France 98?

    Supposedly the train operator in France was going to put on special trains in all cities for Euro 2016 but I've heard nothing since from them, is there a chance they would organise late night trains back to Lyon?

    Any help would be much appreciated.
     
  2. Timanfaya

    Timanfaya Member+

    May 31, 2005
    Southampton
    Yes, there will be trains after the game.
    I think (haven't checked) that they have released the TGV timetable, so e.g. if you have to get from Lyon back to Paris after a match, that's probably available now.
    But Lyon/St Etienne will be a local train, they haven't scheduled those yet AFAIK. I too am waiting for that train.
     
  3. db1709

    db1709 Member

    Oct 30, 2013
    Melbourne, Australia
    Club:
    Melbourne Victory
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    I've checked the TGV timetable and the latest departure is 23:00.

    It's going to be near impossible to get out of the stadium and onto the train in 10 minutes surely?

    It's about a half an hour walk from the stadium to the train station, according to google maps, and that's not factoring in the bottlenecks which always occur when leaving the stadium.

    I will contact TGV and try and get some more info for everyone.
     
  4. P to the Wee

    P to the Wee Red Card

    Nov 22, 2011
    Susan is a Little Lamb
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Keep us posted. I was wondering about this as well. If I go to Marseille, I'm unsure if I want to spend the night there and if I go to Bordeaux, that is the one city that I have nowhere to stay at, so I'd need a train back to Paris
     
  5. Timanfaya

    Timanfaya Member+

    May 31, 2005
    Southampton
    Where are you getting that from exactly?
     
  6. P to the Wee

    P to the Wee Red Card

    Nov 22, 2011
    Susan is a Little Lamb
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Actually, I googled Euro 2016 TGV and they already have some trains available. Most "last trains" leave at 23h, but select the day after and choose 0h as the departure time and you can find some 1AM trains.
     
  7. Timanfaya

    Timanfaya Member+

    May 31, 2005
    Southampton
    Is that St Etienne to Lyon you're talking about?
     
  8. P to the Wee

    P to the Wee Red Card

    Nov 22, 2011
    Susan is a Little Lamb
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    I actually did not specifically look at St Etienne but I found 1am trips to Paris in a handful of cities
     
  9. Timanfaya

    Timanfaya Member+

    May 31, 2005
    Southampton
    Right, so like I said the TGV times are out, but not the local ones.

    There will be more trains announced later for journeys like Lyon/St Etienne, which are mainly served by regional trains because there's no high-speed track. There are a few daily TGV services from Paris to Lyon that continue to St Etienne, but most trains between Lyon and St Etienne are not TGV.
     
  10. celtic67

    celtic67 Member

    Aug 28, 2013
    Australia
    Club:
    Celtic FC
    Has anyone here had much experience with train travel within France? Would it be safe to catch overnight trains during the tournament and still wake up with all your belongings?
     
  11. P to the Wee

    P to the Wee Red Card

    Nov 22, 2011
    Susan is a Little Lamb
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    I took a train from Monaco to Paris, slept the whole way through and lost nothing
     
  12. celtic67

    celtic67 Member

    Aug 28, 2013
    Australia
    Club:
    Celtic FC
    How is a city like Lens going to cope with the thousands of British fans who descend on it for the England v Wales match. The population and stadium capacity are both 35,000, surely there's not going to be enough for accommodation for everyone? Where will everyone sleep?!
     
  13. P to the Wee

    P to the Wee Red Card

    Nov 22, 2011
    Susan is a Little Lamb
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    It's only a 1 hour train ride to Paris I believe
     
  14. Stu_Lee

    Stu_Lee Member

    Feb 5, 2014
    New Jersey
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Poland
    has anybody heard anything new about trains being added on the Saint Etienne-Lyon route? I will only be attending the Portugal-Iceland match (21:00 start) and since I couldn't find anything in Saint Etienne, now looking to spend that night in Lyon instead... What other options would there be if no trains are added?
     
  15. djcuse

    djcuse Member

    Nov 30, 2009
    Toronto, Canada
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    I'm staying in Lyon beginning June 13th for a week, and have tickets to the Portugal Iceland game as well.
    I can't see there not being a train back from St. Etienne after the game at some point near midnight or 1am departure. I'm not really worried.
     
    Rubens Takashi and P to the Wee repped this.
  16. NickK

    NickK Member

    United States
    Feb 20, 2016
    Hoboken, NJ
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    I'm going to England v Wales in Lens. I'm going to stay in Lille the night before and after that game.

    I'm going to Portugal v Iceland, too. There better be trains to Lyon after the game. It has been hard finding places to stay in Saint-Etienne.
     
  17. db1709

    db1709 Member

    Oct 30, 2013
    Melbourne, Australia
    Club:
    Melbourne Victory
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    There is a distinct lack of accomodation in Lyon, let alone St Etienne.

    I've heard nothing back from the train providers regarding trains back to Lyon.

    Luckily I snagged an Airbnb in St Etienne for the Portugal vs Iceland match.
     
  18. NickK

    NickK Member

    United States
    Feb 20, 2016
    Hoboken, NJ
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    There is a special TGV Euro 2016 train that leaves Lyon for Saint-Etienne on the 14th at 3:05pm. They haven't posted a return trip yet, but I bet there will be one.
     
  19. NickK

    NickK Member

    United States
    Feb 20, 2016
    Hoboken, NJ
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    According to this site, the SNCF travel agents' site, the next batch of TGV train tickets should go live on March 10th. Hopefully there will be a Saint-Etienne to Lyon train for after the 9pm games.
     
  20. P to the Wee

    P to the Wee Red Card

    Nov 22, 2011
    Susan is a Little Lamb
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    I have no doubt there will be
     
  21. henriology

    henriology Member

    Dec 4, 2011
    Club:
    Shanghai Shenhua
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    FYI guys...below is the response from St Etienne Tourism Office regarding the trains back to Lyon after 21:00 kick off matches.

    "Following your request, there will have more train after the match from our train station « Chateaucreux » and Lyon’s train station. Unfortunately, at this time, we don’t have yet the exactly timetable.

    Here after, please find the link for our website and all information about Euro2016:

    http://saint-etiennetourisme.com/en/uefa-euro-2016tm/ "
     
    Rubens Takashi, guignol and NickK repped this.
  22. P to the Wee

    P to the Wee Red Card

    Nov 22, 2011
    Susan is a Little Lamb
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Awesome, thank you! I hope Lyon does the same for trains back to St. Etienne!
     
  23. Timanfaya

    Timanfaya Member+

    May 31, 2005
    Southampton
    I would expect them to, mainly for the locals apart from anything else.
     
  24. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    I looked it up a while back and wasn't surprised that the last train from Chateaucreux to Part-Dieu was much later than the other direction, since people up there come down here for dinner, opera, festivals etc, and no one from Lyon spends their evenings in Sainté if they can help it. but if the SNCF is putting in extra trains they'll go to and from all the host cities.
     
    P to the Wee repped this.
  25. jamfactoryken

    jamfactoryken Member

    Feb 27, 2014
    Exeter, England
    Club:
    Fulham FC
    Hi Guys. I am trying to organise a coach from Lyon to St Etienne, depart ~4.00pm and back to Lyon (~midnight) for the England Slovakia game on 20th June. Have been quoted €1080, plus a refundable €300 cleaning deposit, for a 25 seater. If we are all good it should work out at €45 each, with a tip for the driver.

    And the bonus........................... you get to meet a load of Fulham fans!!!
     
    Stuckin1au repped this.

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